Alabaster

We had Alabaster come in to do concrete for my patio. The job wasn't done very well. They left dirty concrete all over my driveway and never cleaned it up, they didn't finish the job (I had to followup with him multiple times to get them to put the door back on the shed, and when they did it didn't close properly.) They also didn't sandblast or polish and said they would "come back later" to do it. The concrete itself had craters all over it, it looked horrible.

He said he would come back to fix it in a month, and redo the pour free of charge because "he wants me to be a happy customer". He said he got a bad batch of concrete. A month goes by, I don't hear anything. I followup, and now he's offering to "sandblast it" which will "fix the issue" even though he said it wouldn't the last time we spoke. Wants to charge for the redo of the concrete pour.

Everything always verbal, wouldn't give me a quote in writing, would always followup my text with a call when giving any details or promises. Decides one day he can "come tomorrow". Rushes to my house to start the work even though I said I wanted a quote in writing before we start. During day 1, has an altercation with the neighbour because his guys destroyed some lights and grass on their property. When we discussed the job it was clearly stated they would work in my front yard and driveway only. Cops are called.

Had 2 credible witnesseses saying he and his guys were laughing at the upset neighbour and being unprofessional. On the phone with me, telling me they are being crazy, I believed him at the time, but then I get home and see the damage they caused and hear from 2 separate credible witnesses that what he was telling me was not true.

I tell him I want further communication via email and text only so our interactions are documented and I tell him the issues I have with the damage and his behaviour. I also took issue with the fact he didn't leave any way for my family to get in and out of the house while the work was being done. His response is "what do you expect?". He gets rude and confrontational just like he was with the neighbours and tries to charge more now because of ridiculous reasons.

I told him he's not seeing another dollar and to take the 2500 he got from me and to pay his subcontractor with that (as my lawyer said I am not responsible for those charges). He takes my 2500 deposit, sends me a 3000 bill from a subcontractor expecting me to pay it (we quoted verbally no more than 5k for the project), and disappears without cleaning up the mess and the damage he caused to the neighbour's property. Also left their gravel on my driveway that cost $1,000 to clean up. And leaves my front patio a giant muddy hole in the ground. I also had to deal with angry neighbours confronting me when I got home, they just bailed and did nothing to resolve the situation so I had to clean and fix the damages myself.

Next time around I got around 8 different quotes, and decided on a reputable and professional company, who were excellent from beginning to end and left me with a new patio that is amazing, for a great price, and handled the neighbours and the cleanup extremely well. They also taught me alot about what to expect and how contractors should properly conduct themselves when doing business, I wish I had known this before wasting almost $10k with Alabaster and having nothing but a hole in the ground and upset neighbours to show for it.